Israeli forces detain more than 100 Palestinian labourers

Israeli occupation forces detained more than 100 Palestinian labourers in the occupied West Bank village of Bartaa in a pre-dawn sweep on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses said that “hundreds” of Israeli troops were involved in the raid.

Bartaa is split in half by Israel’s “Separation Wall” and many of the labourers stay in the half on the “Israeli side” to save time when going to look for work in the Zionist state; they don’t have to wait for hours at checkpoints set up by Israel to control the Palestinians. Many of those detained carry Palestinian identity documents from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sources said that the Israeli soldiers did not discriminate between those who have work permits and those who do not.

“The soldiers treated the workers savagely,” said one witness. Those arrested were taken to a nearby military base.